(1) Sun Sep 23 2007 07:38 PSTWhew:
I just got back from picking up Stacy from the airport, checking her into her room near covent garden, having lunch and walking to the strand to find an orange store only for it to be closed. I was just going to settle down for a nap but a French girl I met in Poland who is visiting London called, wanting to hang out, so I am heading out to South Kensington instead. The exchange rate and cost of things in general is really killing me. For instance I spent 20 pounds on things like deodorant and dish soap yesterday. Which is like $40. I've decided i have to stop converting into dollars because it does no good, only depresses me. The only way I will feel better is to get a job and start EARNING pounds, which I am going to do asap. I'm really really worried about how I'm going to survive this city.

(3) Mon Sep 24 2007 01:55 PSTDa, da (an interesting predicament:
I spent most of yesterday surrounded by French people. Every time I tried to say something in French, it came out half in Serbian. Mostly little words: yes, no, prepositions and conjunctions. The ones that come out without you thinking about them. It's as though there are only two language boxes in my head, one for English and one for foreign languages, and if I reach for a foreign language whichever one is on top comes out. I'll have to learn to deal with this better, maybe by studying Serbian and French simultaneously?? I'll find out about this later today at orientation.

In the meantime I'm going to try and find some thrift shops to pick up some necessities. Also I should probably get my shift key replaced at some point, and now that it's no longer the weekend I don't have an excuse for avoiding Oxford Street.

Tue Sep 25 2007 05:17 PST:
I am running around taking care of carious administrative tasks... Yesterday after thrift store shopping (I didn't have much luck in the first store, only managed to buy books, but in the next one I got a plate, bowl, set of silverware and four glasses for less than 3 pounds, however I still need to get to a big Tescos to buy a shower caddy, hangers, some tea towels, etc... and I still need to figure out how to make the pound sign on here.) I went to orientation all day, followed by receptions all evening. I met a lot of cool people and hope I will see them again. Today I enrolled but my email still isn't working... Now I have to update all my Quicken accounts a figure out how I am going to survive in this city. I'm trying to decide if I should buy a printer and a mini fridge. Technically the minifridge is forbidden, so obviously I ill wait to see how that is enforced, but it would be handy to have, considering the minifridge provided is all the way down the hall and shared with 40 other people. I guess the printer just depends on whether I can find a cheap good one. Probably better than paying 5p per page for the next 4 years, though I'm not sure how much I'll be printing... Now I'm just rambling.

(1) Wed Sep 26 2007 04:36 PSTUgh:
My room is slanted. Like, really slanted. It wasn't so noticeable before because of where the bed was. But I'm next to the lift which has a pokey-outy wall into my room, preventing the bed from fitting into the notch between the wall and a built in shelf... thus there was an empty space behind the bed. I like to sit up in bed and read so that wasn't going to work for me. I moved the bed against the wall and discovered the flaw. I wonder if it is worth my effort to complain. I'd like to pay a lesser rate. There is always the possibility that they will change my room. People are still moving in.

update: I just went down to the office to complain to see if I could get another room. The girl said it was a problem with the entire building and every room had slanty floors. Well. Maybe. But even if they were as bad as mine maybe they can cover it with their beds. She said that they didn't do swaps because then whoever else gets the room will have the same complaints. I tried to convince her that maybe someone who didn't mind having a space at the head of their bed wouldn't notice the slants. She said if I could find someone willing to swap it was ok... Now I'm pissed because I'm convinced I got a crappy room through bad luck and I have a superiority complex and feel like I should get preferential treatment because I'm a grad student... apparently nobody cares. That is the sad truth. No one cares if my floor is slanty, no one cares if I can read in bed, no one cares if I have enough money to finish my degree, no one cares but me.

(5) Sat Sep 29 2007 08:33 PSTReports from the dining hall #1:
I have gotten so many compliments on my little mermaid mug. Seriously, every day.

Some people find peanut butter and jelly as bizarre as I find marmite. Amazing.

(2) Sat Sep 29 2007 09:42 PSTBad idea:
to look at pictures of hair when it was so short & cute, when you are trying to grow it out again. Now I know how people get caught in this trap.